We
live in a world of profound inequalities and unbalanced power relations, where
rigid norms and values about how people should behave fuel and exacerbate
injustices. We have to change that. This is why more than 1200 activists/professionals
coming from 94 countries and with a broad variety of organisational
backgrounds, convened the second MenEngage
Global
Symposium in New Delhi, India, from November 10-13, 2014. Gender equality is an essential component of human
rights, as upheld by international standards articulated, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women,International Covenant on Civil and Political Right, and the Convention on the Rights of
the Child. We reiterate our commitment to implementing the International
Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action (1994), the
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), United Nations Commission
on the Status of Women at its 48th Session in 2004, and all other
relevant agreements. We reaffirm our commitment to implement the MenEngage Rio and
Johannesburg Calls to Action (2009). We look forward to future agreements
including the development agenda beyond 2015 and to continue to uphold boys’
and men’s engagement as key efforts to ensuring gender equality and gender
justice for all.This
Symposium reflected the full complexity and diversity of gender justice issues.
It challenged us to reflect, think strategically, reach out across socially
constructed boundaries, and strengthen partnerships. There are gaps. As an
outcome of this historic event, and as a shared commitment and Call to Action, we offer the following
concerns and affirmations:1. Patriarchy and gender injustice
remain defining characteristics of societies around the world, with devastating
effects on everyone’s daily life. No matter who we are, and no
matter where we are in the world, these forces make our relationships less fulfilling,
less healthy and less safe. From an early age, they introduce suffering, violence,
illness, hate and death within our families and communities. They strip us of
our fundamental human rights and hinder our ability to live a life with love,
dignity, intimacy and mutual respect. They hamper the development of our
economies and keep our global society from flourishing. These are the root
causes of many barriers to sustainable development around the world. We urgently need to overcome these
immense threats to human wellbeing.2. Patriarchy affects everyone, but in
different ways. Women and girls continue to face significant,
disproportionately high levels of gender injustice and human rights violation.
Men and boys are both privileged and damaged by patriarchy, but are rarely
aware of that fact. Men and boys are also gendered beings. Gender equality
brings benefits to women, men and other genders. We urgently need to acknowledge that
gender inequalities are unacceptable no matter who is affected.3. We build on a precious heritage. We owe our awareness of gender
injustices, our efforts to promote equality, and the existence of this Symposium
itself to the pioneeringp courage and vision of feminist and women’s rights
movements. We align with the work of women’s rights organisations
and recognize all achievements in transforming social, cultural, legal,
financial and political structures that sustain patriarchy.Keeping its historical context in
view, we shall continue our work with men and boys towards gender equality
informed by feminist and human rights principles, organisations and movements and
in a spirit of solidarity.

4. We believe in an inclusive approach
to realize gender justice. We are men, women and transgender
persons calling for everyone to
participate in the gender justice movement. Though engaging men and boys is an
essential part of such efforts, this hasoften been overlooked. We seek to make visible the most
effective ways men and boys can contribute to gender equality, without being used
as mere instruments.5. Patriarchal power,
expressed through dominant masculinities, is among the major forces driving
structural injustices and exploitation. We are particularly concerned about the many manifestations
of militarism and neoliberal globalisation, for example: war; the proliferation of weapons; global and local economic
inequality; violent manifestations of political and religious fundamentalisms;
state violence; violence against civil society; human trafficking; and the destruction
of natural resources. We urgently need to expose
the link between patriarchy and the exploitation of people and environment, and
to help boys and men change their behaviour from "power over” to "power
with.”6. Gender inequalities are related to inequalities
based on race, age, class, caste, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, gender
identity, religion, ability and other factors. We
value the diversity of our world, and cannot continue to address these
intersecting injustices in isolation. We commit to promoting social and
economic inclusion through meaningful participation, deepened partnerships, and
joint actions among social justice movements.7. It is essential that each of us
live the values of gender justice. This requires men and boys in
particular to reflect critically on their own power and privilege, and to
develop personal visions of how to be gender-just men. It requires all of us to
base our work on deep personal and political convictions. Whenever and wherever
any of us says one thing but behaves differently, it fundamentally undermines
our cause. We must speak out both in private and in public when we see others
acting unjustly; being a silent bystander to an unjust act means being
complicit in that act. Our beliefs, behaviours,
relationships, and organisational structures must reflect those we want to see in
the world. To do so, we must hold ourselves, as well as our friends, relatives,
colleagues and allies accountable.

8. Investment in engaging men and boys
in gender justice work makes this work more comprehensive. It should not
detract from investment in other effective strategies, especially those
undertaken by women’s rights organisations. We reject attempts to weaken our
alliances or to put complementary gender justice approaches incompetition with
one another. We are representatives of diverse organisations, pursuing multiple
complementary approaches. We stand in solidarity with each other and commit to
strengthening our shared vision of comprehensive gender justice work. We call on policy makers and donors to
dramatically increase the resources available for all gender justice work and
to include effective gender justice strategies in all development programmes. 9. Priorities for specific policy
areas and actions for engaging men and boys in gender justice work include:
gender-based violence; violence against women; violence
against girls, boys and trans-children; violence among men and boys; violence
in armed conflict; violence against human rights defenders; caregiving and
fatherhood; gender and the global political economy; sexual and reproductive
health and rights; sexual and gender diversities and sexual rights (LGBTIQ);
men’s and boys’ gender vulnerabilities and health needs; sexual exploitation;
HIV and Aids; youth and adolescents; the education sector; work with religious
and other leaders; environment and sustainability; and strengthening the
evidence base.10. The Post-2015 Development
Agenda must embrace a human rights approach and also transform unequal power
relations. We
believe that achieving gender justice requires engaging men and boys for the
benefit of women and girls, men and boys themselves, people of all sexual
orientations and gender identities. For a world that is just, safe and
sustainable. We advocate for all
activists, civil society organisations, private sector partners, governments
and UN agencies to actively promote these principles and ensure that the new
international development agenda is just and inclusive. Delhi
Call to Action EXAMPLES
OF HOW TO ADDRESS GAPSTake work with
men and boys from the programme and project level into policies and
institutions. The personal is political, and vice-versa. Accelerating
change, moving from the personal to the structural, requires reaching larger numbers of men and boys. We
have to put into place systems to ensure
institutions and individuals are held accountable for gender equality. We must change systems and institutions, including government, schools,
families, the health sector, and the workplace, because they play a critical
role in creating and maintaining gender norms, and have the potential to reach
large numbers of individuals. We call for reexamining systems and institutions, including
education and training, workplace behaviours and policies, legislations,
management of public spaces, operation of faith-based institutions,and prevailing
social norms.

Policies and legal reform can institutionalise more gender-equitable
relations in homes and offices, factories and fields, in government and on the
street. Therefore we must:

Develop, implement and monitor policies to
engage men and boys in gender equality and in building state capacity to implement
those policies.

Actively advance institutional and governmental
policies that address the social and structural determinants of gender
inequalities, including through advocacy
work.

Train staff to implement these policies.

Create public awareness campaigns to transform
men’s and boys’ perceptions of gender roles.

﻿Promote
gender equitable socialisationWe are deeply concerned about the gender socialisation of
girls and boys that begins at a very early age and hinders their full potential
and inhibits their realising their full rights. We strongly believe that all
parents—especially fathers—must demonstrate sensitivity, equitable and just behaviour,
especially to boys, starting at home and school. Reaching out to boys during their critically important
formative stage, will contribute to realising a new generation of men with more
positive behaviours toward women, children, men and trans-people. It
is vital to sensitize and involve boys and girls from early childhood and
continue involving adolescents, preparing them to become gender sensitive,
equitable and caring adults.Examples of specific policy areas and actions for engaging
boys and men in gender justice include:

Empower children
and young people to develop and foster gender transformative behavior to break
the cycle of violence and mobilise them as agents of change.

Develop comprehensive
sexuality education and primary prevention of GBVas an integral part of school
curricula, including human rights, gender equality, and sexual and reproductive
health and rights.

Utilise lifecycle and socio-ecological based strategies
beginning in early childhood and continuing with adolescents and preparing them
to be gender sensitive, equal and caring adults.

Engage boys and men in the prevention of
gender-based violence (GBV)Men and boys perpetuate the
majority of GBV, even as they themselves are harmed by it. Rigid gender norms
socialise boys and men to respond to conflicts with violence and to dominate
their partners. Men
and boys are simultaneously victims of violence and perpetrators. A relevant
factor contributing to men’s perpetration of GBV is experiencing or witnessing
violence while growing up. It is essential to work with men and boys to transform social norms
perpetuating GBV, to redress the effects of violence that boys experience and
witness, including understanding and addressing root causes of gender
inequality, such as unequal power relations, practices and stereotypes that
perpetuate discrimination against women and girls, sexual minorities and
non-gender conforming people, and promoting alternative role models for boys. Examples of specific policy areas and actions for engaging
men and boys in gender justice include:

Engaging
men and boys to be more equitable in their own individual lives and to reject
all forms of violence including domestic violence, and harmful practices such
as child marriage and forced marriages, gender biased sex selection, and female
genital mutilation.

Encouraging
men and boys to question more pervasive and structural inequalities.

Promoting
polices that integrate primary prevention of GBV targeting men and boys.

Develop
policies to engage men and boys in making public spaces free of violence for
women and girls.

Design
progammes for male perpetrators that are integrated with the judicial sector
and victim advocacy; implement gun control; and provide legal, financial and
psycho-social supports for survivors and witnesses of violence.

Engage men as
fathers and caregivers and in taking equal responsibility for unpaid care workEvidence shows
that when fathers are involved with their children at an early stage, including
in the prenatal period, there is a higher likelihood that they will remain
connected to their children throughout their lives. Given that women and girls and
carry out two to ten times more care work than men and boys, there is a need to
achieve full equality for men’s and boys’ participation in care work and
women’s participation in the paid work force with equal pay. This can only be
done by fully sharing care work.Examples of specific policy areas and actions for engaging
men in gender justice include:

Provide public services, infrastructure and social protection policies,
and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and families.

Reduce and redistribute unpaid care work, to allow
women in particular more time for other pursuits such as self-care, education,
political participation and paid work; and redistribute care-workfrom poorer
households to the state by financing, regulating and providing care services.

Promote
the equal sharing of unpaid care work between men and women to reduce the
disproportionate share of unpaid care work for women and girls and to change
the attitudes that reinforce the gendered division of labour.

Promote more
progressive paternity leave policies.

Implement
public awareness campaigns and education to transform perceptions of caregiving
roles among men.

Publicly
support fatherhood preparation courses and campaigns focusing on men’s roles in
the lives of children can address fathers’ reported feelings of being
unprepared for caregiving, and help men perceive benefits from greater
participation.

Engage men as supportive partners, clients and
positive agents of change in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR)Throughout the
world SRHR is largely considered the sole responsibility of women while many
men continue to neglect the SRHR needs and responsibilities of themselves,
their partners, and their families. Men’s lower utilisation of SRH services,
like HIV testing and treatment, is a result of both rigid gender norms as well
as structural barriers such as clinics that are ill-prepared to address
male-specific health issues. As a
result, not only are women and girls left to bear much of the burden of their
own and their families’ SRHR, but men’s lack of involvement also places
expensive and unnecessary burdens on health systems. Interventions with men and
boys on SRHR have been shown to effectively increase men’s utilisation of
services, as well as support and respect for their partner’s SRHR, which in
turn improves the health of women, children and men themselves. Examples of specific policy areas and actions for engaging
men in gender justice include:

Engage men and boys in transforming the rigid norms
that shape sexual and reproductive health outcomes and enable them to seek
information and services for addressing their sexual and reproductive health
needs.